ABC News 24

And here’s the deal for the debate with the ABC, Sunday July 25, 2010.

The debate will screen live on both ABC1 and ABC News 24 from 6.30pm Eastern time. ABC news in eastern states will be at 6pm, while a half hour debate analysis will continue after the debate at 7.30pm. Regular programming will then follow, delayed by half an hour from its original schedule.

On ABC News 24, debate coverage starts at 5pm in the lead up to the event, with further analysis following right up to 9pm. The debate itself will also be replayed at 10pm but without the post-debate analysis. Note all ABC News 24 times are eastern, and therefore need to be adjusted for your time zone – in WA, take off 2 hours, in SA and NT take off half an hour.

Here’s the summary:

ABC1:
Eastern states:
6.00pm ABC News
6.30pm Australia Votes 2010: Leaders Debate
7.30pm post debate analysis
8.00pm David Attenbrough’s Life

SA/NT:
6.00pm Australia Votes 2010: Leaders Debate
7.00pm ABC News
7.30pm David Attenbrough’s Life

WA
4.30pm Australia Votes 2010: Leaders Debate
5.30pm post debate analysis
6.00pm Art Nation
6.30pm At the Movies
7.00pm ABC News
7.30pm David Attenbrough’s Life

Note – SA/NT viewers can only see the post debate analysis on ABC News 24.

ABC News 24:
5.00pm ABC News including pre-debate coverage
6.30pm Australia Votes 2010: Leaders Debate
7.30pm post debate analysis
9.00pm The World, weekend edition
9.30pm Asia Pacific Focus
10.00pm Australia Votes 2010: Leaders Debate Replay
11.00pm as scheduled…

ABC News 24 times are eastern standard. 2 hours earlier in WA, half an hour earlier in SA and NT.

Nine have now confirmed that they will air the debate between Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbot live at 6.30pm (eastern states), Sunday July 25. 60 Minutes will follow at 7.30pm, while RBT and Send in the Dogs will not be seen. The debate will be a 60 Minutes special.

Seven are airing the debate live at 6.30 for Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane viewers, at 7.30 in Adelaide (due to AFL) and 5pm in Perth (also to fit in with AFL). Dancing with the Stars airs at 7.30pm for the eastern states, 8.30pm in Adelaide and its usual time of 6.30 in Perth.

Ten will air the debate at 10.45pm giving viewers who have missed it before the chance to watch. Programming for that night on Ten which includes the finale to Masterchef and the premiere of Undercover Boos remains as scheduled.

Although their guides are not yet updated, the debate should also be seen on ABC News 24 live and ABC1 at 6.30pm.

And finally – Sky News are showing the debate live as well.

SBS ONE, Ten and the digital channels other than ABC News 24 remain as scheduled at 6.30pm Sunday, July 25.

ABC News 24 starts at 7.30pm, Thursday July 22. The channel will be broadcast live to all time zones, and is available on digital channel 24 in HD. Foxtel channel 202.

The first free to air 24 hour news channel promises to bring a range of news based programs with regular news updates on the hour.

The first night of programming is as follows:
7.30pm ABC News 24 Launch. Can also be seen on ABC1.
8.30 The Drum – a topical discussion show
9.00 The World – international news
10.00 ABC News – latest news
10.30 Newsline – Australia Networks’ flagship current affairs program
11.00 ABC News – latest news
11.25 One Plus One – weekly interview program
12.00am ABC News 24 launch special
1.00 BBC World News
1.30 Newsline – repeat
2.00 BBC World News – the Hub
2.30 Foreign Correspondent – repeat
3.00 Lateline – repeat
3.35 Lateline business – repeat

A regular weekday will include ABC news at 4am, 5am, 9am, 10am, 11am, 1pm and the Midday report at 12pm and 2pm. Afternoon Live will air from 3pm – 5.30pm covering news and discussion. News bulletins into the night air at 6pm, 7pm, 8pm, 10pm, 11pm and 12 midnight with BBC News at 1am and 2am.

At 6am on weekdays will be ABC News Breakfast, broadcast live to all markets, which can still be seen on ABC2 as well at 6am adjusted for time zones (in Perth for example, ABC News 24 News Breakfast would start at 4am, while also being able to be seen on delay on ABC2 at 6am).

In between news presentations are shows like Australia Network News, Business Today, Australian Story, Talking Heads, Stateline, The Quarters, The Drum, Lateline Business (at 8.30pm), The World at 9pm, Newsline and a repeat of the night’s 7.30 report at 11.25pm.

Regular programming will obviously break to make way for breaking news and major events.

For more informartion, check your favourite internet TV Guide.

ABC News 24 will launch on Thursday July 22, at 7.30pm.

The first show on the new channel will be a special ABC News presentation which will showcase the full range of ABC news gathering capabilities and featuring reports from journalists in Australia and around the world.

Broadcasts for the channel will be played out from the ABC’s Ultimo studios in Sydney and produced through the ABC’s Continuous News Centre.

ABC News 24 will be available on free to air channel 24, Foxtel channel 202, Austar channel 24, via the ABC news website, through iView and on the ABC’s freely downloadable iPhone application.

There had been concerns about further delays to the launch due to technical issues and the fact staff had to be recruited and trained.

Programs on the channel include Afternoon Live, a politics-focused programme anchored by Ali Moore with contributions from Chris Uhlmann, News 24′s political editor, and Jeremy Fernandez, who will present news updates.

Scott Bevan and Jane Hutcheon, former foreign correspondents for the ABC, will each host their own programmes on the channel. In addition to hosting the late news on weeknights, Bevan will host a programme entitled The World, “making full use of the reach and quality” of the ABC’s foreign newsgathering capabilities. Hutcheon will host One Plus One, a weekly interview programme.

The ABC’s online discussion and analysis website The Drum will move into the television medium, with its chief political writer Annabel Crabb anchoring daily broadcasts featuring “opinion and analysis, debate and argument”.

News bulletins presented by Joe O’Brien will air in the morning and the early afternoon, while Juanita Phillips will anchor the main evening broadcast.

Existent ABC News programmes airing on News 24 will continue to be broadcast on the ABC’s standard-definition channels, including ABC News Breakfast (ABC2), the re-branded Midday (ABC1) and Lateline Business (ABC1). Lateline Business will air at an earlier timeslot on News 24, before being rebroadcast in its usual timeslot on ABC1 after Lateline.

The Australia Network‘s Business Today, presented by Whitney Fitzsimmons, will also be broadcast on News 24.

ABC News 24 will be Australia’s 12th full time digital channel (based on channels available to the mainland capital cities, and excluding community TV and trial channels), and the 4th ABC network channel. 

In a sign that the new free to air 24 hour news channel ABC News 24 is about to launch, internet TV guides like www.yahoo.com.au and www.yourtv.com.au are now including the channel as part of their TV program channel listing.

But a launch date of July 14 looks unlikely with programming for the channel until late night Sunday July 18 listed in four hour blocks with the synopsis of “coming soon”. This means the launch date would be Monday July 19 at the earliest.

Furthermore, the ABC tend to release programming and information further in advance then the commercial channels do which could mean the launch date may be even later. As a July launch has been promised, though, we should expect news any day.

With news of a date for the national election looming, let’s hope the new channel is on air in time to provide in depth coverage of that news.

ABC News 24 will be the 4^th channel offered by the ABC and available to all in Australia. Excluding community TV, ABC News 24 will be the 12^th full time free to air channel in mainland capital city markets.

Expected to launch early this month, the ABC has reportedly delayed the launch of its new twenty-four hour news channel.

The decision most likely has resulted from the network’s recent bungles during its political leadership coverage last week.

The delay will enable broadcast engineers to correct operation glitches at its out-sourced presentation control centre, Mediahub.

The ABC’s communications director, Michael Miller, denied a date had ever been confirmed, but said “mid-year” was “in the loosest sense, anywhere from April ’til September, October”.

Industry sources had heard original plans for a Monday July 12 launch date, but that is now unachievable.

Last week’s troubles supposedly resulted in a “massive dressing down” of staff by managing director, Mark Scott, followed by a department review into the deliverance of breaking news on both television and radio platforms.

Miller revealed that ABC News 24 would not launch until it had successfully streamlined news gathering, reporting and the distribution of content.

“You want to make sure it’s perfect or as close to perfect as it can get.

“We have said that we are reviewing our performance [last Wednesday] because there were some bad points.”

Miller declined to speculate as to when the new channel would be operational, but hoped it would be ready “some time in July”.

Source: TSR

The ABC used last week’s political events as a rehearsal for their new twenty-four hour news channel – ABC News 24 – which is set to launch next month.

The coverage reportedly gave everyone involved at the public broadcaster greater confidence, especially political editor Chris Uhlmann and reporter Mark Simkin, who broke the news at 7pm on the nightly bulletin, The Australian reports.

Despite this, the ABC endured a number of technical faults, which prompted comments from viewers questioning its readiness for a round-the-clock news service.

Meanwhile, there has been some internal concern that the new channel’s image that uses the centralised graphics production unit was designed by a British agency, who won a

competitive tender over an Australian company.

“The London agency won the day on creative and extensive worldwide experience and expertise in broadcast and channel branding,” a spokeswoman said.

With ABC News Breakfast still in the ABC2 schedule as far forward as Friday July 23, that would suggest the launch will be late July – possibly Monday July 26 unless an amendment comes through once the launch date is confirmed for ABC News 24. ABC News Breakfast will move to ABC News 24 once the new channel launches.

ABC News 24 will be on free to air digital channel 24, and 202 Foxtel.

The ABC used last week’s political events as a rehearsal for their new twenty-four hour news channel – ABC News 24 – which is set to launch next month.

The coverage reportedly gave everyone involved at the public broadcaster greater confidence, especially political editor Chris Uhlmann and reporter Mark Simkin, who broke the news at 7pm on the nightly bulletin, The Australian reports.

Despite this, the ABC endured a number of technical faults, which prompted comments from viewers questioning its readiness for a round-the-clock news service.

Meanwhile, there has been some internal concern that the new channel’s image that uses the centralised graphics production unit was designed by a British agency, who won a competitive tender over an Australian company.

“The London agency won the day on creative and extensive worldwide experience and expertise in broadcast and channel branding,” a spokeswoman said.

With ABC News Breakfast still in the ABC2 schedule as far forward as Friday July 23, that would suggest the launch will be late July – possibly Monday July 26 unless an amendment comes through once the launch date is confirmed for ABC News 24. ABC News Breakfast will move to ABC News 24 once the new channel launches.

ABC News 24 will be on free to air digital channel 24, and 202 Foxtel.

The ABC used last week’s political events as a rehearsal for their new twenty-four hour news channel – ABC News 24 – which is set to launch next month.

The coverage reportedly gave everyone involved at the public broadcaster greater confidence, especially political editor Chris Uhlmann and reporter Mark Simkin, who broke the news at 7pm on the nightly bulletin.

Despite this, the ABC endured a number of technical faults, which prompted comments from viewers questioning its readiness for a round-the-clock news service.

Meanwhile, there has been some internal concern that the new channel’s image that uses the centralised graphics production unit was designed by a British agency, who won a

competitive tender over an Australian company.

“The London agency won the day on creative and extensive worldwide experience and expertise in broadcast and channel branding,” a spokeswoman said.

With ABC News Breakfast still in the ABC2 schedule as far forward as Friday July 23, that would suggest the launch will be late July – possibly Monday July 26 unless an amendment comes through once the launch date is confirmed for ABC News 24. ABC News Breakfast will move to ABC News 24 once the new channel launches.

ABC News 24 will be on free to air digital channel 24, and 202 Foxtel.

Source: TSR

Nine have abandoned regular day time programming today to continue coverage of the day’s events in Canberra. Karl Stefanovic continues to report, despite being on TV from 5am this morning.

Even this morning, Today started at 5am instead of the usual 5.30am to cover both the political upheaval and keep Today viewers up to date with the soccer result of Australia Vs Serbia. Nine’s coverage is amde to be part of a very extended Today show.

Seven’s daytime schedule has also been thrown out, with continuing coverage using “The Morning Show” and its hosts. Maybe they shold call it “The Afternnon Show” now?

On ABC1, the midday news continues, with regular programming from 12.30pm abandoned for now.

Ten continues to show their usual day time line up. Not a bad idea, so at least there is an option for those who now may be “news’ed” out by the events now.

Back to ABC – what a shame ABC News 24 was not ready to go yet – what a day it would have been for the new free to air 24 hour news channel to start. Even if they were nearly ready, they could have gone to air today with what will be one of those big political news stories we will here about for years to come.

So far, it looks like ABC News 24 will not start until the second half of July. July 5 had been thrown around as a possible launch date, but if that was to be, the news would be out by now to build awareness.